Star Trek: Starfleet, The Early Years
by YiZhong
Summary: Set during the time when Starfleet was just founded. The Vulcans are very apprehensive in letting Humans explore past what the Human race had already explored and colonized. These stories are the chronicles of the crew of one of the earliest Starfleet exploratory vessels.
1. Prologue

Star Trek: Starfleet The Early Years

Premise: Set during the time where Starfleet was just founded. The Vulcans are very apprehensive in letting Humans explore past what the Human race has already explored and colonized. These stories are the chronicles of the crew of one of the earliest Starfleet exploratory vessels.

Guest Stars:

Jonathan Anderson: Keith David

Admiral Hackett: Lance Henriksen

PROLOGUE

Earth Spacedock,

February 15th 2132.

No matter how many times he has seen the Earth from orbit, Captain YiZhong Tan has never grown tired of the spectacular and unspeakable beauty of seeing Earth from orbit. Just before he could get lost in the beautiful sight , a friendly voice which contained a thick British accent woke YiZhong out from his near dreamlike gaze he had on the Earth, "YiZhong, finish admiring the view ?"

YiZhong snapped out of his dreamlike gaze and turned around to see his mentor and good friend Commodore Jonathan Anderson and replied " No I have not Jon, just give me five more minute." Commodore Anderson gave up a big sigh before before joining YiZhong is staring out of the giant clear aluminum panel. Whilst staring out at the majestic view Commodore Anderson said to his protege, " It does not get old does it ? No matter how long and how many times we stare at it, we always find something new to appreciate about it." YiZhong just replied his mentor's statement with a nod of the head and replied "No it does not, I think can stare at it for the whole day."

"Come on YiZhong, we should not keep Admiral Hackett and the Vulcans waiting, you know how the Vulcans feel about people not being punctual." YiZhong realizing that he might just have caused both himself and Commodore Anderson to be late for their important meeting with Admiral Hackett and the Vulcans, YiZhong snapped out of his dreamlike state and replied to his mentor, " Sorry about that, we better get going then."

Commodore Anderson and Captain Tan then made their way to the Shuttle Bay to take the shuttlepod down to Earth to attend the meeting with Admiral Hackett and the Vulcan delegation on the grounds of Starfleet Command.

Starfleet Command,

San Francisco, Earth.

"Come on, you cannot be serious ?" Tan said to the Vulcan delegation in the room with an obvious hint of frustration in his voice . Tan went on " You cannot simply just stop us from exploring the galaxy because you think we are not "ready" for it." The Vulcan delegation looked at each other without the slightest hint of emotion before the head of the delegation, Ambassador Sovar replied the frustrated captain in a calm and unemotional voice, " We think that Starfleet is not adequately equipped technologically to engage in any form of deep space manned exploration due to the fact that Earth vessels has yet to break the Warp 2 barrier or have any adequate tactical system to combat certain "threats" that could be discovered in deep space."

Immediately after the remark made by the ambassador, Commodore Anderson replied the Ambassador's earlier statement with a hint of frustration as well just like his protege did, " Starfleet has made great strides in improving our ship defenses as well as trying to improve our warp drive, I think for a fact that we are ready to start deep space exploration missions."

Ambassador Sovar looked at Admiral Hackett and then turned back to look at Commodore Anderson and Captain Tan and offered a rebuttal to the growingly frustrated Commodore and Captain, " As I have said earlier on, it is not logical for Starfleet to engage in a deep space exploration mission at the present time as your ships do not have the speed or range to engage in a long term deep space exploration mission," Ambassador Sovar continued, "Furthermore, your weapon system is let us say, inadequate in dealing with the unknown threats that could be present in uncharted space."

Tan was about to offer a rebuttal to the ambassador before Admiral Hackett decided to step in to the conversation, "Ambassador, Commodore, Captain, I am sure that we can come to an impasse that can satisfy both parties." Ambassdor Sovar intrigued by the Admiral's statement raised one of his eyebrows before replying, "What sort of impasse do you recommend Admiral ?" Admiral Hackett proceeded to push a few buttons on his desk that brought the large display in the room online which contained various star systems and ships both civilian, Starfleet and finally Vulcan. " Earth ships has traversed a distance of about 90 light years, colonizing Alpha Centauri, Terra Nova and the Vega system." Hackett pressed a few more buttons on the desk which presented a possible path of Starfleet's first deep space mission and continued, " There are a lot of uncharted system and anomalies that has not been discovered within the 90 light years, my suggestion is that Starfleet's first deep space mission is to survey as much of the unexplored regions within the 90 light years."

Ambassador Sovar looked up to the huge display screen and then back to Admiral Hackett and stated, " I find your idea to be adequate, although I still think it is inadvisable for Starfleet to be engaging in deep space exploration while so ill prepared." Tan wanted to voice his objection but before he could say anything, a firm hand grasped his shoulder, it was Anderson who nodded in objection of Tan voicing any objections at the moment.

Ambassador Sovar adequately satisfied with the outcome of the meeting decided to leave, but before leaving the room, Sovar turned around and giving the Vulcan salute while saying "Peace, and Long Live." , and then Sovar left the room with his delegation. As soon as Sovar left the room, Hackett gave a huge sigh of relief and said,

"Finally that's out of the way." before reclining into his seat. " I cannot believe it, why are Vulcans still holding us back ?" Tan said while walking over to the protein resequencer to get a drink. " It is the best outcome we could have hope for, at least they are not stopping us outright." replied Hackett while looking at a PADD. Anderson looking out of the window to the view of the San Francisco bridge replied " I wonder when the Vulcans would finally let us make our own decisions when it comes to space exploration ?"

"Probably never." retorted Tan immediately before taking a sip out of his cup of earl grey tea.

"Gentlemen, we have been given the green light to go out and explore, and even though it is not what we had originally hoped for, we will make the most of it." stated Hackett with a charismatic voice. Hackett reached for a PADD and handed it to Tan before saying, " Captain YiZhong Tan, I hearby put you in command of the Starfleet's first manned deep space exploration mission, you would be given free reign in choosing your senior staff as well as your crew from anywhere within Starfleet. Be ready to leave within the next six months." Tan was shocked by his newest order and could only offer one response to the Admiral " Thank you sir, for this chance." Hackett offered a warm smile and replied, "Don't thank me, thank Commodore Anderson he was the one who put in the good word on your behalf." Anderson just smiled and nodded to the shocked young Captain. "Well Captain Tan, where do you want to start looking for your crew ? " asked Anderson. " In all honesty Commodore, I have no idea. I just know that it's going to be a long six months and I am going to start looking for people right now." replied a smiling Tan before exiting Admiral Hackett's office with a PADD in one hand and his tea in another. Hackett looked to Anderson and said, " That's one easily excitable protege you have over there Jon." Anderson replied full of pride" The perfect candidate for an explorer."

*Any feedback would be really welcomed as this is my first time writing in such a manner. Normally I write more academic papers.


	2. Chapter 1: The Search

**Chapter I: The Search **

London, Earth

April 12th 2132,

Starfleet Science Command.

The shuttlepod was making its final decent vector approach into the landing zone of Starfleet Science Command and YiZhong was ever enchanted by the view of the London cityscape from the air, the blending of historical architecture and modern architecture was the perfect example of the old and new blending together to make something beautiful in its own special way. The Starfleet Science Command building which is housed in the Old Royal Navy College was an example of such of a building that combines both the old and the new.

As soon as the shuttlepod completed its landing and post flight checks, Tan got out of his seat immediately and proceeded to the shuttlepod's exit hatch to find the first of his senior staff, his science officer.

The grounds of the Starfleet Science Command was huge as well as beautiful, if only he was not on official business he could enjoy the view and probably visit his cousin in the city to catch up.

Tan finally reached the building within the compound that he was interested in, the part of the Science Command which houses the different as well as various laboratories that are used to unlock the secrets of the various samples from space that has been brought back so far, either biological or geological. Tan entered the building and immediately proceeded to the information desk. Once at the desk, Tan inquired the young ensign stationed on the desk that was clearly bored of his current posting about some information he needed, " Excuse me Ensign, I was wondering whether you can give me directions to Science Lab 221-b ?" The ensign proceeded to point to the direction of the turbolift located at the end of the hall and replied the captain's inquiry, "Take the turbolift up to the second floor and then take a right once you exit the turbolift, the lab will be on your right."

"Thank you," replied Tan before making his way to the turbolift at the end of the hall. Although being just a regular Science installation, this was still a Starfleet installation and therefore still required some degree of security before letting anyone access into the upper floors of the building or in some cases, the lower floors of the building. Before being able to step into the turbolift to take it to his destination, Tan had to state his security excess codes to the security terminal that prevented unauthorized access to the upper floor without a valid code, " Tan Alpha-Zeta - 92," answered Tan to the security terminal. The security terminal then proceeded to take a full body biometric scan of Tan before eventually allowing the Captain in to the turbolift. As soon as Tan entered the turbolift, Tan proceeded to press commands to take him to the second floor of the building.

Finding Science Lab 221-b was not that difficult with the directions that the young ensign had given to him. Tan entered the Science Lab, only to find it surprisingly dark with the exception of a faint blue glow coming from the end of the room from what appears to be a display console, and even that faint blue glow was being blocked by a figure that was standing in front of it and looking at it.

Before Tan could even say anything, the shadowy figure spoke first " What does Starfleet Command want from me this time ?" Tan was rather taken aback by the shadowy figure's question but composed himself enough to reply " How did you know I was from Command ?" The shadowy figure turned around and proceeded to press a button that brought the lights back to the dark Science Lab that was for a moment ago was only illuminated by a small display, after that a man probably in his mid 30s that was rather tall with swept back hair that clearly would be curly if not he had not swept his hair back was standing at the other end of the lab. This unknown person then proceeded to close the distance between himself and Tan before replying, " For one, I know that no one within the grounds of Science Command would disturb me when I'm in my "mind palace" and secondly, I specifically ordered all communication officers to block any incoming communiqués from Command so to not disturb me while I'm working, so by deduction you are someone from Command and are here on important business as Command does not send someone all the way to London let alone a Captain to just check up on me, or do they now?"

Tan was impressed by this gentlemen's skill of deduction and took a moment to let it all sink it before replying, " You are right, I am here for something important, I am Captain YiZhong Tan, and I assume you are Commander Sherlock Harrison ? " Harrison just nodded to the Captain's statement . Tan proceeded to press a few commands on his PADD that he had brought along and then whilst looking at it read out " Lieutenant Commander Sherlock Harrison, you have been chosen to be part of Starfleet's first deep space exploration mission, your advance degrees in - ," " Why ?" asked Harrison, interrupting and stopping the Tan in his tracks, "Why have you chosen me ? Surely there are better more "decorated" officers out there than me," said Harrison to be bemused captain. Tan put down the PADD on the lab table and replied "because I don't need another decorated officer who just blindly follows orders and is restricted to only one train of thought and cannot think outside the box." Tan continued, " I need someone who can think outside of the box, and can think objectively and now and then disregard protocol even if it meant their career , and you seem to fit that profile exactly," Tan went on, " The places we are going to is very different, we are going to see things that we might not even comprehend yet understand and I need someone who can think three dimensionally, out of the proverbial box and is willing to step out of their comfort zone to discover something new."

Harrison looked at Tan before replying, " I guess you found your science officer then, Captain." Tan smiled at Harrison before replying his new Science Officer, "Excellent, prepare to depart in the next four months and if you need any equipment Commander, I will try my very best to acquire it for you." Tan proceeded to leave the Science Lab, but before he could exit the lab, Harrison asked his new superior officer, " Captain have you found a Chief Medical Officer yet ?" Tan stopped in his tracks and turned around and answered " No I have not, I am still going through a list of potential candidates." Harrison looked up from his electron microscope that he has only just turned on and said, " I have a suggestion for you."

London, Earth,

Somewhere in the Old Part of London.

Tan looked down at his PADD to confirm whether he was at the right address that Commander Harrison had given to him. The address Harrison had given was located in the old part of London, which architecture was reminiscent to probably 20th or 21st century architecture. Tan confirmed he was at the right address and proceeded to knock on the old oak wood door of the house.

A lady probably the landlady who is probably in her mid 60s or early 70s answered the door " Well hello there, what can I do for you ?" said the lady after opening the door. Tan still standing outside replied the lady, " Hello there, I'm looking for a Doctor James Walker, is he home by any chance ?"

"Yes he is, yes he is," said the lady before continuing, " Where are my manners ? Come in, come in." Tan entered the apartment complex before saying " Thank you ma'am." The lady then proceeded to close the door after the captain had entered into the building before saying, " Dr. Walker is on the first floor, just take the stairs up and his room is straight on ahead, right at the end." Tan smiled at the lady, and thanked her before going up the flight of stairs to meet his candidate for Chief Medical Officer.

Tan reached his destination and proceeded to knock on the door. Some time passed before someone finally answered the door, " Can I help you ?" said the man on the other side of the door. Tan noted the man on the other side was around the same height as himself, had short dirty blonde hair and that had a cane at his side, probably used to provide more balance for him as he might have injured his leg in some manner. Tan then replied the man that answered the door, " Yes, are you Dr. Walker perhaps ?"

"Yes I am, and you are ?" asked in return. "I am so sorry, I am Captain YiZhong Tan, from Starfleet Command." Dr. Walker gave out a huge sigh and then said, " What did he do now ?" Tan was rather perplexed and confused at the same time, and took a moment before replying " I am sorry, who are you talking about ?" Walker turned around, he now having the exact confused look that Tan had a moment ago and replied " You are not here because of Sherlock ?"

" Yes and no, I am not here because Commander Harrison screwed up something which I think is the reason you think I am here for , I am here because Commander Harrison recommended you to fill the position of Chief Medical Officer for Starfleet's first deep space exploration mission. " answered Tan to the confused Walker. Tan just realizing that he was still standing outside of the room then asked Walker politely, " Can I come inside ?"

" Oh yes, please come in captain." said Walker as he stepped aside to let the captain enter the door. "Sorry for the mess," said Walker as he closed the door behind them. Tan surveyed the room which happened to be the living room by the looks of it, Tan noticed that the room was tastefully decorated with 20th-21st decoration and fixtures, Tan replied Walker jokingly , " Please, you have not seen my place yet ?"

" Please have a seat captain," said Walker while pointing to set a chairs located near a window and a piano set, Walker then asked the captain , " do you want something to drink ?" Tan who already has taken a seat replied the doctor, " No thank you." Once Walker had taken a seat, Walker questioned Tan who was sitting across him, " So Sherlock was the one who recommended me for the post ?"

"Yes, he spoke very highly of you," Tan then proceeded to take out his PADD from his jacket and entered a few commands into it and then continued, " and I took the liberty of checking your profile and record, and I also think you would be quite well suited for the job."

" So you don't think that my injury would be a problem ?" asked Walker. Tan looked up from his PADD and answered the doctor, " Quite frankly according to your medical record, your current injury is purely psychological in nature ," Tan went on, " furthermore, this is just an exploratory mission and the only think you would have to worry about is the general health of the crew."

Walker sat it in his chair and pondered for a moment before replying Captain Tan, " You do realize captain that I am not part of Starfleet per say right ?" Tan nodded his head and replied, " Yes I do, you are not part of Starfleet , but you were part of MACO and I think you are more than qualified to enter space, due to all the rigorous training that MACO personnel had to undergo before being commissioned ." Tan pushed a few buttons on his PADD and then went on saying, " You acquired your medical degree and training from Cambridge, and were a highly decorated combat medic before the incident on Alpha Centauri," Tan put down his PADD on the small table that occupied the distance between himself and Walker and continued, " , only very few doctors in Starfleet has ever gone into space before, and the ones who has, let us say do not have the experience like you do have when it comes to space and I think your experience in space during you time with MACO will be an added asset to the mission."

took sometime to ponder and think before saying , " So Sherlock is going on this mission as well ?" Tan looked up to the good doctor and answered his question, " Yes he is, he is my Chief Science Officer for the mission." Dr. Walker then took a moment before replying the captain with his answer. Finally Dr. Walker gave his answer, " So when are we to leave ?"

Tan smiled , got up of his chair and picked up his PADD and proceeded to answer his new Chief Medical Officer while on his way out to the door, " Be ready in four months time, and if you need anything special installed in the med bay on the ship please let me know through Starfleet Command.

Tan felt good, in one trip he has managed to acquire both his Science Officer and his Medical Officer. Tan thought to himself, only four more positions were left to be filled.

San Francisco, Earth,

April 30th 2132.

Tan sat at his desk looking at his computer terminal and all the possible candidates to choose to become his ship's main flight officer. The weather outside was beautiful , the sun was shining , there was not a cloud in the sky and the view of the San Francisco bridge from his office was just breath taking. It was such a shame that he was stuck in his office on such a beautiful day.

One name had caught Tan's attention a few days ago when he was going through the list of top rated flight officers in Starfleet, a young cadet by the name of Jonathan Archer. Archer was the youngest cadet ever to beat the Alpha Run obstacle course in the allotted time. Archer was a prime candidate in Tan's eye, unfortunately Starfleet Command and Academy had denied Tan's request as Archer was only in his second year at the academy. Tan noted to himself that Archer has the potential to be one of the greatest Starfleet officers in his generation.

With Archer out of the question, Tan went for the second best choice, a recent Academy graduate named Samantha Romanoff . Now Tan had to go and find her, somewhere in the outback of Australia. Tan switched off his computer terminal and picked up his PADD and made his way to the shuttlebay to take the shuttle to Australia.

Alice Springs, Australia

April 30th 2132.

The weather in Australia today for this time of year was rather hot, but being from Malaysia which was hot and humid for the better part of the year, this weather did not really restrict his movement. From what Tan had gathered from the Starfleet satellite office in Melbourne, Ensign Romanoff was out in Alice Spring to complete her advance survival training course. But first, Tan had to hike to the base camp that Starfleet had set up for the training course.

After hiking for a good 5 kilometers to the base camp in which Starfleet had set up for the trainees for the advance survival training course, Tan was perspiring rather heavily as well as thirsty.

" Good day mate," greeted a voice from behind that was peppered with a thick Australian accent, " are you Captain Tan perhaps ?" Tan wiped a huge drop of sweet from his forehead before replying, "Yes I am, and you are ?" The medium body built man , with a rather messy hair as well as a rather thick beard extended his arm to Tan for a shake, as Tan shook the man's hand the man answered Tan's question, " I'm Lieutenant Commander Robert Logan, chief instructor for Starfleet's advance survival training course, the satellite office in Melbourne hailed us to tell us you were coming over here."

After Commander Logan had introduced himself, Tan proceeded to introduce himself to the Commander, " Captain YiZhong Tan, Starfleet Command, nice to meet you Commander."

" The feeling is mutual," replied Commander Logan. Logan signaled Tan to enter the main building of the camp which served as the bases' medical bay, communications bay, armory and mess hall. As Tan entered the base, a cool wave hit the captain which proved to be just what the captain needed after hiking for a good 5 kilometers under the sun.

Logan and Tan both made their way to the mess hall and proceeded to seat on one of the tables. Right after sitting down, Logan got up and asked Tan, " Is water alright with you ? We don't have anything stronger at the moment," Tan replied to the commander's question, " Yes water would be perfectly fine." Logan then made his way to the beverage dispenser located at the side of the room and proceeded to order two glasses of cold water from the dispenser.

" So what can I do for you captain ?" asked Logan as he put down to glasses of cold water on the table. Tan took a big gulp from the glass of ice cold water before replying the commander, " I'm looking for Ensign Samantha Romanoff , according to her Starfleet record she is finishing up her advance survival training course here, is it possible for me to she her?" Logan took a sip out of his own drink before replying " Well, they are not currently here right now, they are finishing up the last phase of the course." Tan remembered what was the last phase from his time when he took the course, climbing Ayers Rock, a very daunting task .

Tan inquired to Logan, " Are there any vehicles that could be used to go out to Ayers Rock at this moment ?" Logan took a moment before replying, " Well there is the shuttlepod that you can take, but it is only used for emergencies, but I think we can make an exemption this time," Logan added, " and also I want to see the final phase for myself."

The view of Ayers Rock or Uluru in the native aborigine language was breath taking, be it from the air or from the ground. Logan put down the shuttle on the top of Ayers Rock, already there were a few trainees that had made it to the top. Tan and Logan exited the shuttlepod once all the post flight checks were done.

"What are you doing here Robert ! " shouted a big built man with a shaved head that was probably of from this distance looked like giant to Tan. Logan gave a small chuckle before replying, " We come to see the end of the festivities Jack !" As "Jack" got nearer to Tan and Logan, Tan noticed that "Jack" was probably of Samoan decent.

Once "Jack" was near enough to be heard without shouting, Logan introduced Tan to "Jack" , " Captain Tan may I introduce you to Lieutenant Jacob "Jack" Hobbs, my assistant and good friend." Tan extended his hand and it was met with a firm hand shake in return.

"Nice to meet you sir," replied Hobbs before continuing, " with all due respect sir, what are you doing here?" Tan replied the lieutenant " I am looking for Ensign Samantha Romanoff , do you know where she is?"

Hobbs took a moment to think as well as look around his surroundings before answering the captain, " She is over there," Hobbs asked the captain, "do you want me to get her for you sir ?" Tan shook his head while replying, " No Lieutenant, that would not be necessary, but thank you."

Tan walked over to where Ensign Romanoff was sitting, it was clear that the young Ensign was covered in dirt as well and sweet, very likely caused by all the time staying out in the wilderness without a shower. The young Ensign looked up and asked " Can I help you sir ?" Tan sat down across the young and tired Ensign and gave her a bottle of water which he had brought from the shuttlepod, before replying "Ensign Romanoff, I am Captain Tan from Starfleet Command and I am here to tell you that you been selected to be part of Starfleet's first deep space exploratory mission, taking the role of chief flight officer."

Tan could clearly see the look of shock in the young ensign's tired eyes, Tan let the news sink it to the shocked ensign before asking " Are you alright ensign ?" The young ensign took a moment before replying the captain, " Yes sir I am alright, it is just that this comes as quite as a shock to me that's all."

" You do not need to give me your answer straight away, but it would be better as we are due to depart in about four months time," informed Tan to the young ensign that was obviously still coming to terms with the news. Tan then got up and brushed away some of the dust that was on his uniform and decided to leave the young ensign to absorb the news . As Tan was about to walk away, Ensign Romanoff shouted out, " Wait !" Tan stopped right in his tracks and turned around. Romanoff was now standing up and said to the captain, " I accept the position captain," with a clear sign of happiness in her once tired looking face. Tan smiled at the young ensign and said, "orders will be sent to you as soon as you get back to Melbourne." Tan then proceeded to walk back to the shuttlepod to take back to base camp. The last thing that Tan heard before he and Logan got into the shuttlepod , was Ensign Romanoff ecstatically telling Lieutenant Hobbs and her other course mates that she was chosen for Starfleet's first deep space exploratory mission.

As soon as Tan sat down in the shuttlepods chair, Tan checked his chronometer and realised that he still had time to visit all his family members that were in Melbourne. All in all Tan thought it was a rather good day, he managed to get his chief flight officer and he could visit his family in Melbourne.

Starfleet Command,

San Francisco, Earth,

7th May 2132.

Captain Tan was just enjoying a nice cup of earl grey tea with some cookies when he heard a chime that indicated that someone wanted to enter his office, Tan put down his hot drink and cleared some crumbs from the side of his mouth. _Hmm_, mused YiZhong, _I wonder who it could be ?_

" Come in." said the captain while picking up a PADD that he was working on earlier on. The person that was on the other side of the door was his mentor Commodore Jonathan Anderson.

"Slacking off I see," said Anderson jokingly after seeing the cup of tea and cookies on the desk while making his way to his protege's desk. Tan chuckled slightly at the joke his good friend and mentor made and replied, "Oh not as bad as you Commodore, who do you think thought me how to slack off ?"

Anderson gave out a great big hearty laugh and sat down across his protege, " Quite true, quite true YiZhong." Tan offered some of the cookies that he was eating to his mentor. Anderson shook his head to turn down his protege's offer, " I am watching my figure."

" Something tells me you are not here to just catch me slacking off " said Tan to Anderson while putting down his PADD on the table. Anderson unzipped one of his uniform's pocket and reached into it, revealing a data rod in his hand, " May I ?" asked Anderson to Tan signaling to Tan's computer terminal data rod port.

" Go right ahead Commodore," replied Tan to Anderson. Tan was curios as to what was in the data rod that the Commodore had just produced and questioned his mentor, " What is in the rod Commodore?" Anderson did not answer Tan's question immediately, instead he turned the computer terminal's monitor around and only then did he answer his protege's question, " This is Lieutenant Alice Marcus, and I am recommending her to you to take her on as your Communication Officer for the mission."

Tan made a quick scan of the profile of Anderson's choice for communication officer before speaking, " An advance degree in xenolinguistic," Tan nodded his head in approval, " that is very impressive." Anderson shook his head in agreement with his protege," Furthermore, she was on the team that designed the universal translator that is going to be installed on the ship for your mission," Anderson went on, " she would be valued added asset to your crew YiZhong, not only is she fully qualified as a communication officer, but she also knows the inner workings of the UT."

" She looks like a good choice Commodore," agreed Tan while looking over Marcus' profile. " Very well then, I will inform miss Marcus that she has been chosen for the mission " said Anderson while putting back his data rod into his uniform's pocket.

_Now all I need is too find is an armory officer and a chief engineer, and we are good to go_, mused YiZhong. Anderson was still seating across his table and Tan thought to himself, _probably this would be a good time to get a drink._

"Commodore," Tan said while switching off his computer terminal, " want to go to the pub and kick back a pint or two?" Anderson offered a chuckle and smiled in return before replying " I thought you will never ask."

Seoul, Unified Republic of Korea,

21st May 2132.

_I hope I am in the right place_, mused YiZhong while looking around his surrounding and chronometer. Tan was in one of Seoul's many parks to meet his chosen candidate for armory officer, a Lieutenant Jong Soon Cho. Weather in Seoul during this time of the year was normally very warm, but it was surprisingly cold today.

_Probably I missed him or came to the wrong park_ , mused YiZhong as he checked his chronometer which showed that it was already 10 minutes pass the time in which he had agreed to meet the Lieutenant. Just as he was about to leave to go back to the Starfleet satellite office located in downtown Korea, a voice called out to the captain, " Captain Tan." the voice said while panting. Tan turned around to see a young man of Korean decent who he recognized to be Lieutenant Cho from his dossier picture, standing in front of him while panting.

"Sorry I'm late captain, I got caught up in a training simulation with a few cadets," explained Lieutenant Cho to Captain Tan. I_ hope this does not screw up my chances for the position, _mused Cho.

" It is quite alright Lieutenant, I thought I was the want who got the time or probably the venue mixed up," said Tan assuringly to the young Lieutenant. "But try to be on time the next time Lieutenant," said Tan jokingly to Cho.

Cho shook his head in agreement, " Yes sir, I will try not to be late next time."

Tan smiled nodded in agreement to the young Lieutenant's statement. " Let's walk and talk Lieutenant," Tan signaling Cho to follow his lead. Tan had given notice to Cho about being selected for the mission about a week ago, but due to other engagements, they only could meet now. " So Mr Cho, have you decided whether or not you would accept the commission?" asked Tan.

Cho nodded before replying, " Yes sir, I would be honoured to sir." Tan stopped in his tracks and nodded in approval to Cho's answer before reaching into one of his uniform's pocket to reveal a data rod, " all the necessary information about the mission is on this data rod," explained the captain before handing the data rod over to Cho, " if you need any special equipment to be brought into the armory, please inform me through Starfleet command."

_Would be nice If I could get my hands on that new prorotype S-5 Phantom heavy pistol, _mused Cho upon Captain Tan's offer. Cho accepted the data rod from the Tan and proceeded to store it in one of his uniform's own pocket.

" Mr. Cho I would be taking my leave now," said Tan to the young lieutenant. " See you in three months time Lieutenant," said Tan before going in a separate direction to where was going to.

_One down, one more to go_, mused YiZhong.

Starfleet Engineering,

San Francisco, Earth,

29th May 2132.

Commander Shariq al-Reza was working on a very complicated warp theory problem that was presented to him by a colleague of his a day earlier when he heard the chime of his office door. _I wonder who could that be at this time ?_ mused Shariq as he looked at his chronometer which indicated that is was already pass midnight.

"Come in," said al-Reza as he saved what little progress he made on solving the warp theory problem. The person that entered the al-Reza's office was no other than his academy friend Captain Tan. Even before entering Starfleet Academy, Shariq and YiZhong both knew each other when they were still back in Malaysia studying for the Starfleet Academy entrance exam " _Macha_ what are you doing here so late la ?" Tan just smiled and replied jokingly, "Can't an old academy friend come by a say hello ?" Shahriq chuckled slightly and replied " They can, but they do not normally come over pass midnight. "

"So what can I do for you YiZhong?" asked Shariq as he made his way to the drink dispenser that was located at the corner of his office.

" I want you to become my chief engineer for the deep space exploratory mission that Starfleet has assigned to me," answered YiZhong to Shariq's question. Shariq paused for a moment before replying, " I'm your first choice ?" YiZhong just nodded his head in agreement. Shariq then gave out a big laugh, " Do you remember the last time when I nearly blew up that shuttle pod when I redirected the energy flow in the wrong direction? exclaimed Shariq " do you want me to blow up Starfleet's first ever deep space exploration vessel ?" asked Shariq . " That was a long time ago," assured YiZhong to his good friend.

Shariq took a sip out of his root beer which he had ordered from the drink dispenser before stating, " There ought to be a better choice for the position of chief engineer than me?" _There are definitely better engineers out there, but I would not trust them with my life, like I trust you with mine_, mused YiZhong.

"The reason as to why I choose you Shariq is because I can trust you with with running the ship in tip top condition at all times." explained YiZhong. "Furthermore," YiZhong continued, "the team would not be the same without you."

" The team?" Shariq said in bewilderment, " you mean you are putting together the team again?" YiZhong smiled and answered his good friend, " Of course, I already got Ananda, Prakash , Vijay and On Tong to be assigned on for the mission," YiZhong continued, " we just need you and then the group will be complete."

Shariq took a moment to think before giving his answer, " Of course I'll follow you guys on this mission," answered Shariq, "plus who would turn down a chance to be part of one of Starfleet's first historic mission?"

YiZhong smiled at his good friend replied, " Excellent _macha_, get ready to leave in three months." YiZhong then proceeded to leave his friend's office so that he could finish up his work.

_So, _mused YiZhong_, I have all my senior staff in place, probably time I start to get ready for the mission as well. _


	3. Chapter 2: Heading Out

**Chapter II: Heading out **

London, United Kingdom,

19th August 2132.

Fog had descended onto the city of London when night fall fell. Lieutenant Commander Sherlock Harrison was walking home from Starfleet Science Command to his house that was located in the old part of London. _The fog will clear up in about two hours_, mused Sherlock as he felt the movement of the air. Commander Harrison and Dr. Walker were making their final preparations to leave for the _Pioneer_, Starfleet's first and newest exploration ship. As Sherlock turned onto the street where his house which he shared with Dr. Walker was situated at, a voice called out to him from behind, "Good evening, Sherlock."

Sherlock stopped in his tracks, he recognized the voice that called out to him, but did not turn around to face the voice. "I told you I am done, I have no interest in helping you and your kind anymore," voiced Sherlock to the voice standing behind him.

The voice replied, "You passed the test, you are a part of us and you are only done when we say you are done." Sherlock retorted, "I am the one who decides who I work with, not you or anyone else."

The voice replied with a hint of disappointment which was clearly fake, "That is a shame, but if you do not accept, I wager that there are other people that would accept the assignment." _The only important event that is taking place at the moment is the launch of the Pioneer_, mused Sherlock, _they must want me to gather intelligence and send in back to them during the course of the mission. But what if they have something more installed? _"What do you have installed for the _Pioneer_?" asked Sherlock to the voice.

"Nothing malicious I assure you Sherlock," answered the voice, "we too have a vestured interest with the success of the mission and do not want any harm to come to the ship or the crew." The voice continued, "I am positive that you will eventually come to see that we are an integral part in bringing Earth into a new era of prosperity as well as protecting it."

Sherlock then turned around to confront the voice, but when he did, there was no one there. _The fog covered his escape_, deduced Sherlock as there was no trace of the voice, _no point in hunting him down, only a waste of time and energy doing so when the fog is so thick. For now_, mused Sherlock, _no one else needs to know about this, only when the time is right, will I inform the captain of this "meeting"._

Earth Spacedock I,

21st August 2132.

The corridors of Earth Spacedock were filled with people for the launch of the _Pioneer _on its maiden voyage_. _There were Starfleet officers, family members of the crew of the _Pioneer_ that were there to see off their loved ones and finally the Vulcan delegation.

Captain Tan walked over the one of the transparent aluminum viewport and looked out of it. On the other side of the viewport, would be his home as well as his crew's home for the next couple of years, the Earth Starship _Pioneer_. The starship Pioneer was the pinnacle of Earth's technology at the moment, equipped with newly designed multi wave sensors with backup EM scanners, an enhanced hull polarizer matrix, three plasma cannons, three spatial torpedo tubes and finally a warp drive that can hold warp 2 for a longer duration than compared to other ships that Starfleet had at the moment.

YiZhong's family was one of the many families that were on board to see off their loved one. YiZhong's parents were incredibly proud of their son's achievement. _This is the one thing I would miss the most_, mused YiZhong while saying goodbye to his family.

Across the room, YiZhong could see that his new flight officer Ensign Samantha Romanoff was also saying her goodbyes to her own family. On the other side of the room, he could also see other members of his crew saying their goodbyes to their families.

The spacedock's internal communication system then chimed, _"May all essential Pioneer crew please report to the Pioneer immediately for pre-departure procedures. Thank You."_

Starship _Pioneer_,

Earth Spacedock, Earth,

21st August 2132.

"Don't drop those crates," said Commander Shariq al-Reza to some of his engineering staff that was carrying some rather huge crates that was marked fragile, "if you drop it, we'll be hard pressed to get replacement parts for it." _Why isn't that transporter system installed yet?_ mused Shariq, _it would be so much easier to get these crates on board and much faster._al-Reza's communicator chirped, indicating there was a someone trying to reach him, he reached into his uniform's pocket to answered it, al-Reza flipped his communicator opened and replied the hail, "al-Reza here."

"Shariq, have you and your crew completed loading all those cargo crates on board yet?" asked Captain YiZhong who was on the other end of the line. Silence, then al-Reza replied, "_it's taking a lot longer than usual since the transporters are not installed yet_." _If it were installed_, _we would probably be done by now_, mused al-Reza.

"How much longer do you need to get all those crates onboard?" queried Tan to his chief engineer. Tan waited for his chief engineer to reply his question, "_hold on a minute captain_," the next thing Tan heard was al-Reza shouting a question to one of his engineers, "_Mr. Parker, how long do you need to finish loading all the crates?"_"_About an hour sir we still need to get those science equipment aboard," _replied the engineer. "Did you get that?" asked al-Reza to the captain. "Loud and clear, I aspect to be ready to leave within the hour, or I'll have someone's head," joked Tan as he closed the channel.

An extra hour in spacedock proved to be sort of a blessing in disguise as the engineers on Earth Spacedock was able to fine tune some problems that the navigational deflector was having as well as managing to install the transporters, though they have yet to test it out. Finally, the Pioneer was ready to leave spacedock after loading all the needed cargo and equipment onboard.

Tan walked over to the communications station where Lieutenant Marcus, which he just meet a moment ago was stationed on and proceeded to instruct her to open communications with Starfleet Command, "Tan to Starfleet Command, we are ready to leave spacedock, acknowledge command." There was a moment of silence before a familiar voice on the other side answered the hail, " This is Command Captain Tan, the _Pioneer_ is given full authorization to get under way," said Commodore Anderson on the other end, " and YiZhong, make us proud." Tan smiled at his mentor's words of support and replied, "Thank you sir, the crew of the _Pioneer_ won't let you down." Tan then left the communications station and made his way to his captain;s chair, once Tan had settled into his captain's chair located at the centre of the now active bridge and pushed a button to activate the ship's internal communication system, " This is Captain Tan to the crew of the _Pioneer_, at that very moment, every crewmember on the Pioneer stopped what they were doing and listened to their captain, " we are about to leave Earth, to take a step into the great unknown, to explore strange distance worlds and to go where no men or women has ever gone before, this is our time to shine and to reach new heights, I know you will not only make me proud but Starfleet as well, Tan out." With that, Tan closed the comm channel and looked ahead to the main viewscreen.

"Ensign Romanoff, prepare to take us out spacedock, one quarter impulse power." instructed Tan to the young ensign who was at the helm. "Aye sir, one quarter impulse power," acknowledged the young ensign as she entered the commands into her console. With that order, the ship powered up and began to inch out of spacedock before picking up speed. _Steady as she goes,_ mused YiZhong as he saw the Pioneer move out of spacedock through the viewscreen.

Once the _Pioneer_ had cleared spacedock, Ensign Romanoff informed Captain Tan "Sir we have cleared spacedock and are clear to navigate." Before Tan could give new orders to his helm officer to get under way, Lieutenant Marcus informed the captain, "Sir, we are getting a hail from Starfleet Command, it's from Admiral Hackett and Commodore Anderson." Tan turned to face his communication officer "Put them through Miss Marcus." Lieutenant Marcus proceeded to press a few buttons on her communication console to accept the hail.

The faces of Admiral Hackett and Commodore Anderson appeared on the screen. "Captain Tan, before you leave Commodore Anderson and I would just like to wish you the best of luck in your mission. And remember, you are the symbol for humanity out there, make us proud son, Hackett out." With that the image of Admiral Hackett and Commodore Anderson disappeared from the screen.

Captain Tan took a moment in deep thought before issuing new orders to Ensign Romanoff, "Ensign, take us out, warp 1.8." The Ensign who had turned around to hear her captain's orders turned back around to her helm console and inputted the commands into the console, with that, the sound of the warp engines powering could be heard before the ship jumped to warp, "Warp 1.8 captain," acknowledged the young flight officer while looking at reading for her console's readouts. "Excellent job, everyone," said Tan with great pride for his crew and his new ship.

_Let's see what is out there_, mused YiZhong as the _Pioneer_ travelled out of the Sol system.


	4. Chapter 3: Beautiful Danger

**Beautiful Danger **

_Captain's Starlog, 9th September 2132. _

_The Pioneer has been traveling at warp 1.8 for the past two and a half week. Crew morale is still high since we left port. About five days ago, Lieutenant Commander Harrison picked up a nebula on the ship's long range sensors. We are moving to the nebula's coordinates to investigate. _

The door to the turbolift slide open and Captain Tan exited the turbolift and made his way to the centre of the bridge to where his command chair was. Before he could ask for a status report, Lieutenant Commader Harrison already anticipated the captain's request and reported, "The nebula is approximately fifty-thousand kilometres in front of us," Harrison continued his report, " the nebula consist of hydrogen and helium gasses as well as trace amount of sirillium in it." Tan took a moment to think before asking his science officer, "I'm sorry Sherlock, but what exactly is sirillium?" Harrison looked up from his console and answered the captain's inquiry, "Sirillium is a type of element that is found in certain nebulas, it is normally not volatile in nature but if it were exposed to a modulated positron beam, the gas would ignite in a rather violent nature." Tan nodded in understanding after hearing his science officer's explanation. "Can we get the nebula's image on the viewscreen? Harrison nodded and then proceeded to key in commands into his science console that brought the view of the nebula on to the viewscreen.

The viewscreen which just a moment ago was black was now filled with the beautiful image of a cerulean coloured nebula. _Amazing, absolutely amazing,_ mused YiZhong as he sat down into his command chair. " Captain, more in depth scanning has revealed that the nebula is about 1.5 lightyears in diameter," informed Harrison while looking down into his sensor scope. "1.5 light years in diameter?" gasped Ensign Romanoff , "it would take around three months to traverse that distance at warp 1.8."

" It would take exactly 93 days and 22 hours to clear the nebula at warp 1.8," corrected Harrison to the young flight officer while still looking down at his sensor scope. Ensign Romanoff did not offer a rebuttal to the Lieutenant Commander's correction as she knew that Harrison was certain that his calculations were correct, plus it would be unprofessional to question a senior officer.

"Mr. Harrison, will the ship be any danger if it were to enter the nebula for a closer look?' queried Tan to his chief science officer. Harrison went over the reading that he took of the nebula that was now on his console's display screen and replied, "At the moment, scans indicate that the ship would not be in any danger if it were to enter the nebula for a closer look." _Excellent_, mused _YiZhong, we can take a few picture when we are in the nebula and send in back to Earth, sure they would love it. _

"Captain," Tan turned around his chair to face his chief armory officer who wanted to voice a suggestion, "I suggest that we polarize the hull plating just as an added precaution, there might be something in there that our sensors might not be able to pick up from this range." Tan nodded in agreement to his armory officer's suggestion. nodded back to the captain and proceeded to polarize the ship's hull plating.

"Miss Romanoff," said Tan as he repositioned his command chair to face the viewscreen, "take us into the nebula nice and slowly, half impulse power." Ensign Romanoff's fingers danced across her console to input the captain's commands to take the _Pioneer_ into the cerulean coloured nebula. The _Pioneer's_ impulse engines powered up and proceeded to move into the nebula at half impulse power.

Tan got out of his command chair and made his way to the science station where Lieutenant Commander Harrison was stationed and asked the Commander, "Will it be possible to collect a sample of the nebula's gas?" Harrison took a moment to think before replying his captain's query, "It is possible to use the transporters to beam the nebula gas on board into a canister," Harrison paused for a moment before continuing, "but the transporters has not been calibrated to be used in such a manner yet."

Tan nodded and made his way to the comm panel and proceeded to press the command to open a channel to engineering before saying, "Shariq, I need a favor," Tan waited for his chief engineer's reply, "_Go ahead captain_," replied Shariq. "Is it possible for you to recalibrate the transporter to be able to beam up a small sample of the nebula's gas?"

Shariq was scratched his head and thought for a moment before replying Tan over the comm, "Well I could probably try and fine tune the transporter's targeting scanner to try and beam up the nebula's gas, as the targeting sensor at this moment can only pick up solid objects."

"How long do you need to recalibrate the targeting sensors ?" asked Tan over the comm system. Shariq reached for his PADD and keyed in some instructions into it before replying, "Probably two hours , an hour if I get some help." Silence for a moment, finally the captain replied, "Get all the help you need Shariq, bridge out." _And I thought that I could take the afternoon off and see the nebula first hand_, mused Shariq. Just then the ship shuddered for a moment, and then as quickly as it happened , it stopped. _ I hope nothing bad happens_, mused Shariq as he grabbed his engineering kit and made his way to the transporter room.

The shipped was rocked even more violently compared to the first time, Tan had to grab hold of the bridge's hand rail to prevent himself from falling over. "Report." barked Tan as he made his way back to his command chair. Ensign Romanoff was the first to reply the captain, "Spatial turbulence sir, nothing serious," Ensign Romanoff reported as her fingers danced across her console to keep the _Pioneer_ stable and level.

Once Tan had sat down in his command chair, he turned over the command chair to face the science station and queried Harrison, "Mr. Harrison, what seems to be causing this spatial turbulence." Harrison turned around to look into his sensor scope and replied the captain's query while still looking into it, "Sensors are not picking up any phenomenas that could be causing this spatial turbulence," Harrison then turned around to face the captain and continued, " it could be the fact that we are traveling deeper into the nebula, that could be the cause of the increasing turbulence that is affecting the ship." Tan nodded in understanding, "Ensign Romanoff, full stop please." requested Tan to the young flight officer. "Registering full stop now captain," replied Romanoff to the captain's order. The _Pioneer_ with that order, grounded to a stop.

Shariq was in the middle of recalibrating the transporter's targeting sensor when the ship was rocked yet again. _How am I suppose to recalibrate the transporter's targeting sensor if the ship keeps shaking ?_, mused Shariq. "Pass me the sonic driver Prakash," asked Shariq to his assistant and friend Prakash Sri who was assisting him with the recalibration. Prakash went through the engineering tool box and proceeded to take out the sonic driver and handed it to Shariq. "What if we link the targeting sensors to the main sensor array ? We can boost the sensitivity of the transporter's targeting sensor by doing that as well," asked Prakash to Shariq. Shariq replied, "because it would take far to long to do that and the transporter system's software was not designed to use the sensor array anyways." Shariq handed back the sonic driver to Prakash who put it back into the tool kit. Just then, the _Pioneer_ was rocked again, this time more violently compared to the first few time. "What do you think is happening up there?" asked Prakash with a look of confusion. Shariq with look of confusion took a moment before answering, "I have no idea."

"Why is the turbulence even worst then the earlier ones?" asked Tan to his bridge crew. The first to reply was Harrison, "Captain, it would seem that my earlier hypothesis has been proven false," Harrison double checked his reading before continuing, "it would seem that the residue given off by our impulse engine is the cause for this violent turbulence." The ship was rocked again. "But we are at an all stop," exclaimed Ensign Romanoff who was trying her best to keep the ship stable. Harrison replied, "It would appear that the residue that was left over before we achieved an all stop was sufficient enough to destabilize the nebula even further."

"Is there any way to counteract this?" asked Tan as the ship was rocked again. Harrison took a moment before replying, "At this moment the only solution could be wading out the storm and wait for the impulse engine residue to dissipate enough and then get out of the nebula at the first chance we get using thrusters only."

"How long will that take?" queried Tan as the ship was rocked yet again by the spatial turbulence. "At this rate, about an hour and a half," answered Harrison. "Captain I'm not sure whether the structural integrity of the ship can hold out for that long," exclaimed Lieutenant Cho who was at the tactical station. _This mission is not off to a good start,_ mused Tan.

"What about using the warp drive?" suggested Lieutenant Alice Marcus who was working at the communications station at the moment. "That would not be advisable," Harrison replied, "at the moment we do not know what will happen if we engage the ships's warp drive, it would not be advisable to take such a risk." The ship was rocked yet again by the turbulence. Just then an alarm went off, "Hull micro-fractured starting to form on D-deck," reported as he looked at his console's readout.

The ship was rocked yet again, but this time is was not as bad as the one before. Shariq entered engineering with Prakash and proceeded to jab the comm panel that was located next to the entrance of main engineering, "al-Reza to the bridge, what is going on up there?" Shariq waited for a reply, "Shariq, we have encountered some sort of spatial turbulence that seems to be caused by the residue wake that our impulse engines give out," before al-Reza could get more of an explanation, Captain Tan spoke, "Shariq, I need you to shore up the ships's structural integrity, shun whatever power you can scrap and divert it to the ships's structural integrity field, or we will be torn apart by the turbulence." _Great,_ mused Shariq, f_irst the transporters and now this, what next ?_ _This is not the time to complain_, Shariq thought to himself, _the ship is in danger. _"I'll get right on it captain." replied Shariq before calling out to a few of his engineers to begin shoring up the ship's structural integrity field.

"Micro-hull fracture beginning to form on C-deck captain," reported while looking down at his console. Although the turbulence has become very much less violent, the violent turbulence from earlier on has already done damage to the ship. "Captain," Harrison called out, "at the current rate of turbulence we can start to move out of the nebula." The ship was rocked again. Tan nodded in agreement with his science officer, "Miss Romanoff, take us out of the nebula, nice and slowly, thrusters only," ordered Tan to the young ensign. "Aye sir," replied the ensign as her fingers danced across her helm console to bring the _Pioneer_ out of the nebula.

_Captain Starlog, Supplemental. _

_After traveling for a total of 7 hours using thrusters only, the Pioneer has finally exited the nebula. Damage control teams has been working hard to fix the various damages that the Pioneer had sustained during it's time in the nebula. The actual explanation on how our impulse wake could have caused the level of spatial turbulence that we encountered within the nebula has yet to be determined. Lieutenant Commander Harrison is working on finding an explanation through the small sample of nebula gas that was brought onboard using the recalibrated transporter. _

Tan jabbed a button on his panel, ending his log recording and proceeded to get up from his chair and and stare out of his room's viewport to the view of the nebula that still could be seen. The cerulean hue that the nebula gave off was as beautiful as ever. YiZhong mused, _beautiful but dangerous._


	5. Chapter 4: Waking Moments

**Waking Moments **

**Cast:**

Lieutenant Commander Sherlock Harrison: Benedict Cumberbatch

Dr. James Walker: Martin Freeman

Ensign Samantha Romanoff: Scarlett Johansson

Lieutenant Jong Soon Cho: John Cho

Lieutenant Alice Marcus: Alice Eve.

Ensign Samantha Romanoff twisted and turned in her bed, trying to fall asleep. This was the third night in a role that she was having trouble falling asleep. Ensign Romanoff then turned to face the ceiling of her quarters. _Why can't I fall asleep ?_, mused Ensign Romanoff who was becoming more frustrated with her current predicament. With a huge sigh of frustration, Samantha got out of her bed and donned her robe. She then proceeded to leave her quarters and head to the med bay.

Dr. Walker was busy going through the crew's medical profiles to get more acquainted with the crew's various medical problems so that he could give them the best care possible if the need arose. Just as he was about to move onto the next profile, the door to the med bay slide open. Dr. Walker turned around from his computer terminal and saw an obviously frustrated Ensign Romanoff standing in front of him.

"How can I help you ensign?" greeted Walker with a smile on his face. Ensign Romanoff closed the distance between her and the good doctor before replying, " I am having falling asleep," the young ensign continued, "this has been the third day in the row." Dr. Walker directed the young ensign to take a seat on one of the med bay's bio-beds while he fetched his medical scanner. Dr. Walker opened the medical scanner and proceeded to scan the young ensign before saying, "As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with you." Ensign Romanoff nodded her head in disapproval at the doctor's diagnosis, " There must be something wrong, I have not been able to fall asleep or get any good rest for the past three days." Dr. Walker then decided to run his medical scanner on the ensign one more time, but just like the first time, the medical scanner did not pick up anything wrong with the ensign. Dr. Walker, reading nothing medically wrong with the ensign decided that the best action to give was by giving her a mild sedative to help her fall asleep. Walker made his way to the medical dispenser and proceeded to take out 0.5 cc of sonambutril and inserted it into his hypospray. Walker then made his way back to the young ensign, "this won't hurt a bit," said Walker as he pressed the hypospray against the ensign's neck, the tell tale hiss that the hypospray gave off indicated that the sedative has been successfully administrated to the ensign.

"You will feel the effect of the sedative in about fifteen minutes, I suggest you get back to your quarters as quickly as possible, we don't want you falling asleep in the middle of the corridor " said Walker jokingly as he was putting down his hypospray on one of the medical trays located next to the bio-bed. Ensign Romanoff got off the bio-bed she was sitting on and made her way to the med-bays exit, "Thank you doctor, goodnight, hopefully," thanked Ensign Romanoff as she left the med-bay.

took a moment before going back to review the crew's medical profiles. _That's been the eight case in this week_, mused Walker, _something's not right_. Dr. Walker then proceeded to bring up the medical scans that he took Ensign Romanoff and the seven other crewmembers that have come to him complaining of trouble falling asleep.

_Captain's Starlog, 23rd September 2132._

_As of lately, many of the crew has been complaining of the inability of falling asleep. The situation does not appear to be getting any better and all efforts to treat the problem has come up short . I have instructed to look into it the situation and determine what is the cause. _

Tan was already present on the bridge with Lieutenant Commander Harrison and Commander Shariq in the mission operations area that was located at the aft of the bridge, they were now only waiting for the rest of the senior crew to arrive. _Where are they ?_ mused Tan before giving out a big yawn. Tan looked up from the mission ops console that he was staring at to see whether his two senior staff that has already gathered saw that, but apparently they did not as al-Reza appears to have dozed off while standing up and Harrison was too busy looking down at the mission console as well.

Tan was about to doze of himself when he heard the door of the turbolift slide open, out from the turbolift came out Lieutenant Cho, Lieutenant Marcus and finally Ensign Romanoff, all of them looking visibly tired due to this affliction that was affecting the ship. All three of them made their way to the mission ops area and almost in unison apologized to the Captain Tan for their tardiness. Tan who was equally tired as well, just waved them off and got immediately down to business. "So anything interesting on long range sensors ?" inquired Tan to his obviously exhausted crew. Harrison was the first to reply the captain, "Long range sensors has detected an asteroid belt that is located about point one light years from our current location," Harrison jabbed a few more commands into the mission ops console and continued, "sensors has also detected a twin neutron star which is located about point zero eight light years from our current position." Tan nodded at his science officer's report while messaging the area between his eyes.

"Set a course to the asteroid belt Miss Romanoff," ordered Tan to his flight officer without consulting with the rest of his senior staff, all who looked extremely tired. "Dismissed," said Tan while still looking at the image of the asteroid belt that was displayed on the mission ops console display. Before Harrison made his move out of the mission ops area, Tan called out to his science officer, "Sherlock, could you spare a moment?" Harrison stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the captain, revealing an obviously tired face as well, "Yes I do."

"Sherlock, the situation is getting worse, more and more people are falling prey to this affliction," said Tan as he let out another yawn. _Some earl grey tea now would be nice_, mused Tan before continuing, "Sherlock I need you to assist in his trying to find out what's happening to this crew, if we cannot find out what is happening, we are in for some bloody big trouble." Harrison nodded in agreement and replied, "I have already started assisting ." Tan was impressed at his science officer's initiative but was too tired to praise him adequately, all Tan could say was, "good job Mr. Harrison, until further notice all your priorities lie with helping Dr. Walker." With that Lieutenant Commander Harrison turned around to leave the mission ops area and proceeded to take the turbolift down to the med-bay to assist . Tan gave out another yawn, _might need something stronger than earl grey tea_, mused Tan.

was busy going through all the medical scans that he has taken of every member of the crew that had come to him complaining of the inability of getting any sleep or even being able to fall asleep when he heard the door to the med-bay slide open. Walker turned around with his medical scanner in hand and a hypospray in another, ready to treat the poor sorry member of the crew that had come to him. Instead it was Sherlock who was standing in front of him, "I still can't find anything wrong with any of the crew," said Walker to Harrison before taking a sip of coffee from his mug, "the problem does not seem to bacterial or viral as I can't seem to find any traces of a bacterial or viral infection." Harrison took a quick glance at the medical scan that was on the screen and remarked, "And there is obvious sign that there is something wrong with the brain as well." _This is a most peculiar case_, mused Sherlock, _but that does not mean it cannot be solved. _

_Experiment number one hundred and fifty , day six. _

_It appears that these so called "humans" suffer from a drop in efficiency as well as an increased rate of irritability while deprived of their biological regenerative action called "sleep". More time is needed to determine what further "sleep" deprivation does to these "humans"._ The unknown shadowy figure then proceeded to press a few multi-coloured buttons that were located on his console that brought up the view of the _Pioneer's_ bridge, main engineering and the mess hall.

al-Reza was having a full day in engineering, sleep deprivation amongst his crew has definitely increased the rate of accidents in engineering. _Thank God none of us have blown up the warp core yet_, mused al-Reza as he carried out his rounds and checking up on his engineers.

Dr. Walker and Harrison had spent the better half of the day in med-bay trying to determine what was causing sleep deprivations amongst the crew, but they were having no luck in pin-pointing the source or the cause. gave up a huge sigh of frustration while rubbing his temples, "Why not we call a night Sherlock?" asked James to Sherlock who was still viewing the scans of the brain taken from various members of the crew. "Agreed," said an equally tired Sherlock. _He must be really tired, normally a mystery such like this would have kept Sherlock up for nights in a row_, mused James. "Good night James, see you in the morning" said Sherlock as he made his way to the med-bays exit. As he was about to exit the med-bay, Sherlock stopped in his track and turned around, "What if the affliction only takes place prior to falling asleep?" asked Sherlock to James. took a moment to think before replying, "It could be quite possible, at this moment we should be open to any possibility," replied James to Sherlock. Sherlock who just a moment ago was on his way out of the med-bay entered, "So, shall we begin?" asked Sherlock to James. Dr. Walker nodded his head and directed Sherlock to one of the bio-beds while he fetched a neurocortical monitor.

Harrison was lying down on the bio-bed and was ready to undergo the procedure that would hopefully prove to the answer to what is causing this problem onboard the ship. James stood next to Sherlock and proceeded to attach the neurocortical monitor on Sherlock's parietal bone. then checked to see whether the monitors were recording the readings that were being transmitted by the neurocortical monitor. than proceeded to insert 1 cc of sonumbutril into the hypospray to speed up the process. Before administrating the sedative, asked his friend, "Are you ready Sherlock?" Sherlock who was lying down on the bio-bed nodded his head and replied "Ready." Dr. Walker then proceeded to place the hypospray on Harrison's neck and the tell tale hiss that the hypospray gave off indicated that the sedative has been successfully administered.

looked up to the bio-bed's monitor to see whether there was any change taking place in the region of Sherlock's brain that governed sleep. Initial scans that were being taken by the neurocortical monitor did not show any peculiar readings. _I guess this was a waste of time,_ mused , _maybe it is something else, guess it's back to the proverbial drawing board_. Just as was about to administer a stimulant to "wake up" Sherlock, the monitor came to life and Sherlock stirred. _My goodness_, mused James as he looked at Sherlock's brain readings that were on the monitor, _something is disrupting the midbrain that is preventing him from going to bed. _ reached for his medical scanner and proceeded to run a more detailed scan on Sherlock's brain. _There is some sort of radiation that is affecting the region of the brain that governs sleep_ , said Walker to himself as he ran the scanner over Sherlock. Walker then proceeded to try and pin point the radiation that was causing the affliction with the bio-bed's terminal, but before he could get very far, Sherlock woke up and the traces of the radiation that was affecting the midbrain region of Sherlock's brain had disappeared.

_"_Anything?" asked Sherlock immediately after he woke up from his medically induced "sleep". explained to Sherlock about his discovery and how there was a weird unidentified radiation that was affecting the region of the brain that governed sleep. "Did you manage to pin-point where the radiation is emanating from? asked Sherlock before continuing, "most likely the radiation is emanating from somewhere within the ship itself to be so effective on the crew, but where exactly is the question." Walker took a step over to one of his medical terminals and brought up the data that he had just collected, "I managed to pin point the exact carrier wave of the radiation, but I did not have enough time to find where the radiation is coming from," explained Walker to Harrison. "The game is on ," replied Harrison as he grabbed one of Walker's medical scanners and quickly left the med-bay . "Hold on a minute Sherlock !" exclaimed James as he reached for his cane that was located just next to him and limped as fast as he could to follow his friend.

For the past hour, Harrison and had been combing every corridor and hallway on the ship looking for the origin point for the radiation. To make matters worst, the radiation trace was so faint that some of the ship's system where throwing off the reading. _We had been at it the whole day,_ mused Walker, _a nice cup of tea would be nice right about now._

"There, I got it," said Sherlock while looking down at his scanner, "come on let's go." Sherlock once again was off running again, this time to the direction of cargo bay two. "Wait for me!," shouted James while limping to his friend who has run of in excitement.

Harrison and Watson entered cargo bay two which was filled with various different crates that were all to be used at one point in their mission. "Over there," said Harrison while pointing to the top corner of the aft section of the cargo bay. Walker looked up to where Harrison was looking and stated, "There's nothing there Sherlock." Sherlock did not answer his good friend, instead he was busy tapping commands into his scanner, "Stand back James," ordered Sherlock, " I'm going to release a small EM pulse to that direction, it should reveal the hidden apparatus that seems to be cause of the crew's affliction. James took a step back from his position and made his way to stand behind Sherlock. Sherlock tapped a button on his scanner and released the pulse, as soon as the pulse was released, the bulkhead of the cargo bay's aft section shifted and contorted and finally revealed a hidden device of some kind. Harrison reached into his uniform's pocket and retrieved his communicator and proceeded to flip it open, "Harrison to bridge," called out the _Pioneer's_ science officer, "Bridge here," replied Tan to his science officer's hail. "Captain you might want to come down to cargo bay two, there is something here you need to see." Tan looked at before replying, " I'll be right there." Tan made his way to the bridge's turbolift to take it down to cargo bay two, but before he entered the turbolift Tan turned around and looked at his armory officer, " you have the bridge." The last thing Tan saw before the turbolift's door slide close was the look of surprise on Cho's face.

_"They have detected the device,they know that something is observing them"_ said the alien figure which was rather huge as well as muscular body to his comrade who was located at the other end of their ship's small bridge. The other alien looked down at his console with his four set of eyes and replied, "_No matter, we are still hidden from them,"_ the alien said to his comrade while inserting commands into his consoles , _"the stealth field has not been breached, and I am certain that their technology is not advance enough to detect our present" . _The other alien expressed his anxiety to his superior officer, _"But what if they can detect us?_" His superior looked up from his console and assured his young comrade "_No need to worry Jahguk, the stealth field is still up, they would not be able to detect us." _

"So what's its use ?" queried Tan to Harrison who was still taking scans of the alien device together with al-Reza. "It appears that this device is emitting some sort of radiation that hampers the region of the midbrain when a person tries to fall asleep," replied Harrison to the captain's question. Tan continued questioning his senior staff that was gathered around the alien device, "What's its power source? Is it linked to the ship's power network ?" This time it was al-Reza which answered, "No, the device seems to be powered by its own power source." Tan looked at the device that was causing his crew so much problems and finally spoke, "I want to know how that device got on board without tripping any of our internal sensors." Harrison and al-Reza nodded at their captain's request. Harrison then spoke as Tan was about to leave the cargo bay , "Captain I have detected an unusual low carrier wave signal that is originating from the alien device, it is possible to probably detect where the carrier wave is coming from by analyzing the device." Tan who had stopped to hear out his science officer nodded in approval to the course of action that Harrison was about to take before saying, "Get Lieutenant Marcus to help you on analyzing the carrier wave." Harrison replied, " Very well captain, " as he kept his scanner in its holster on his belt.

Marcus and Harrison were both at their stations trying to triangulate the origin of the low band carrier wave that was being transmitted by the alien device that was discovered in cargo bay two. Marcus released a huge sigh of frustration, "This is impossible," said Marcus as she took of her earpiece and placed in on her console, " we are never going to find to it, the signal is on such a low band." Harrison who was looking down at his sensor scope replied, "Nothing is impossible, we just need to get more power to the sensor array." Harrison then stopped looking down at his sensor scope and proceeded to jab a button on the comm panel located next to him, "Harrison to al-Reza ," Harrison waited for a reply.

_Great, now what_? mused al-Reza as he was analyzing the strange alien device's energy cell, finally al-Reza replied, "al-Reza here, go ahead." _" I need more power diverted to the sensor array, miss Marcus and I are having difficulties triangulating the origin of the carrier wave," _said Harrison over the comm. " One moment," replied al-Reza , " Sri, Balakrishnan I need both of you to divert more power to the sensor array, drop whatever you are doing." Both Balakrishnan and Sri nodded in understanding of their new orders and went to carry them out. "Anything else I can do for you Harrison ?" asked al-Reza over the intercom. Harrison replied, _"No that would be all,"_ replied Harrison and then the channel was closed. _Good, I can then get back to this interesting device_, mused al-Reza has he shifted his attention back to the alien device.

Tan walked over the science and communication station, "Anything new to report ?" he asked his science officer and communication officer. Marcus was the first to reply, "The additional power to the sensor array is making it easier for us to pin point the exact point in where the carrier wave is being transmitted to." Tan nodded at his communication officer's report before asking, "How long before we can pin point the exact location of where the wave is going to ?" This time it was Harrison who replied the captain, "I estimate it would take another twenty minutes to pin point the exact location of where the carrier wave is transmitting to."

Tan paced around the bridge for the past twenty minutes, waiting for or Miss Marcus to report to him that they have located where the carrier wave is being transmitted to. Finally Harrison reported, "Miss Marcus and I have triangulated where the carrier wave is being transmitted to." Tan walked briskly over to his science officer and communication officer and asked, " Where?" Marcus proceeded to enter commands into her console that brought up the aft view of the ship on the viewscreen, Harrison then reported, " The carrier wave seems to be transmitted to a ship that is trailing us." Tan looked at the viewscreen, but saw nothing there. Before Tan could voice his confusion, Ensign Romanoff voiced hers first, " but there is nothing there." Harrison looked at the young ensign and replied, "Quite right, I suspect that the ship trailing us utilizes the same sort of stealth field that the device we found in cargo bay two uses."

_A stealth field_, mused Tan, _if Starfleet could adapt that to our ships , we could get a major tactical advantage. "_Is there any way we can get that ship to drop its stealth field ?" inquired Tan to his bridge officers. "We could fire a torpedo at a quarter yield at the coordinates," suggested Mr. Cho who was at the tactical station. "No we will not take any actions that can be deemed provocative," chastised Tan to his armory officer. "Any other less lethal suggestions ?" inquired Tan again.

"We could vent our drive plasma at them," suggested Harrison, "but we would have to drop to sub-light speed to do it first," continued Harrison. "And you are certain that doing that would not harm the ship following us?" asked Tan to his science officer. " Venting our drive plasma is significantly safer compared to launching a spatial torpedo at them," replied Harrison as he looked to Mr. Cho. " Miss Romanoff drop us out of warp," ordered Tan before continuing, " and Mr. Harrison work with Shariq to prepare to vent our drive plasma."

Tan was sitting in his command chair waiting for an update report when finally Harrison and al-Reza reported that they were ready to vent the ship's drive plasma. Tan signaled to Harrison and al-Reza to release the ship's drive plasma. With that order, the Pioneer's warp nacelle vented its drive plasma into space. The viewscreen was now displayed the view of a plasma cloud as well as a small ship that was not there earlier on. Tan was in awe at the view that was on the viewscreen and took a moment before inquiring, "Biosigns?" answered the captain's inquiry, " Sensors are picking up two bio-signs on board, but that's all I can get, their shielding is too powerful to penetrate to get a clearer scan ." Tan nodded and looked over to his communication officer, "Miss Marcus, open a channel to the alien ship."

"We have been detected sir," reported Jahguk as an alarm sounded. " How did they manage to pierce the screen ?" barked the alien commander. Jahguk while looking down at his console replied, " they used their ship's drive plasma to penetrate our stealth field." Another alarm sounded, "The "human" ship is hailing us," reported Jahguk._"To the unidentified alien vessel, this is the Earth starship Pioneer, please respond, we mean you no harm."_ Jahguk looked at his superior officer and said, " we should leave now while we can." Jahguk's commander took a moment to think before replying, "take us out of here, maximum warp." Jahguk nodded and made his way to the ship's helm station.

The alien ship did not reply the Pioneer's hail. Tan walked over to Lieutenant Marcus and asked, " Did the communication go through?" Marcus looked down at her console and replied, "Yes it did sir." Just as Tan was about to order Miss Marcus to send another message, Miss Romanoff interrupted, " Sir look." Tan turned his attention over to the viewscreen and saw that the alien ship was moving away. Before Tan could issue any orders, the alien ship jumped to warp. " can you track that ship ?" quarried Tan to his armory officer. Cho looked down at his console and reported, "Unable to track the ship sir, they seem to have some sort of warp masking system." _Who were they_, mused Tan as he made his way to his command chair, _whoever they are, I hope I don't meet them soon. _Tan sat down in his command chair and proceeded to give new orders to his flight officer, "Miss Romanoff, resume a course to the asteroid field, warp 1.85." With that order, the _Pioneer's _warp engines powered up and jumped to warp.

_Captain's Starlog supplemental, _

_With the discovery of the alien device and the alien ship, the sleep problems that the crew were suffering from seem to have disappeared. I have ordered that every scan that were taken on the alien ship and device be sent to Starfleet Command for analyses. I have also ordered that the device be destroyed, save the unknown energy cell and the stealth field generator for further study. We have not detected any further signs of the unknown aliens. _


End file.
